Chapter 1: The Collision of Cultures in the 16th Century
CORE OBJECTIVES
TRUE/FALSE
1. The earliest arrivals in North America were the so-called Clovis peoples, named for a site in
New Mexico where distinctive spear points were discovered.
2. The diversity of native populations in the New World can be illustrated by the more than
300 languages that they spoke.
3. Early Indian civilizations considered land and people sacred and did not make war or
exploit the environment.
4. The European Renaissance era resulted in a cultural shift from a predominately religious
worldview to a more secular outlook.
5. The marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella united Spain.
6. Columbus was looking for a shorter and safer route to the Far East.
7. The New World was named for the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci.
8. In less than a century after Columbus’ first voyage in 1492 the disease that spread to Native
American cultures resulted in the greatest loss of life in human history.
9. The predominate reason for Spanish exploration in North and South America was to convert
the native populations to Christianity.
10. Before the arrival of the Europeans, the horse was an important part of every New World
culture.
11. Spain left little cultural imprint on its former possessions in what is now the United States.
12. The Pueblo Revolt of 1598 permanently expelled the Spaniards from New Mexico.
13. The presence of horses greatly altered the lives of the Plains Indians in North America.
14. The Dutch became Spain’s greatest allies in their fight against the Protestant English.
15. The defeat of the Spanish Armada encouraged the English to embark upon New World
colonization.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Which of the following statements correctly describes pre-contact Native Americans living
in the Western Hemisphere?
a. All Native peoples were remarkably similar.
b. All Native peoples were hunter-gatherers.
c. Ancient Indians practiced nature-centered religions.
d. Ancient Indians shared dozens of different languages.
e. No Native peoples built towns.
2. Which of the following statements describes the Native Americans in North America prior
to the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Western Hemisphere?
a. They inhabited diverse types of communities.
b. They lived in peace and harmony with each other and with nature.
c. They all spoke the same language.
d. They lived almost exclusively along the west coast.
e. They were nomadic loners who rarely had any family ties.
3. Which statement accurately describes Mesoamerican communities after 1500 B.C.E.?
a. They were overwhelmingly nomadic.
b. They developed complex concepts of religion, art, science, and government.
c. They rarely fought with neighboring peoples.
d. They used primitive mathematics and astronomy to produce inaccurate calendars.
e. Their populations remained small by European standards.
4. Native tribes ______________ before Europeans arrived.
a. commonly fought amongst themselves
b. lived peacefully together
c. did not farm
d. were monotheistic
e. were few in number
5. Tenochtitlán in the fifteenth century was
a. an Aztec warrior who defeated the first Spanish troops to arrive.
b. the Aztec name given to Hernán Cortés when he arrived in present-day Mexico.
c. the capital of a sophisticated Aztec empire in Mesoamerica.
d. the name of a mountain range crossed by Cortés as he invaded Mexica.
e. an Aztec temple inhabited by Aztec nobility and priests.
6. The Natives of what is now Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah
a. lived in longhouses.
b. lived in pueblos.
c. lived in massive urban centers.
d. lived in nomadic tribes.
e. were not yet farmers.
7. Which of the following correctly describes the Hohokam people around 500 C.E.?
a. They migrated from present-day Mexico to the Mississippi Valley region.
b. They were a strictly nomadic tribe of the Southwest.
c. They were the first to hunt buffalo on horses brought over by Spanish explorers.
d. They constructed irrigation canals to farm in the dry climate of the Southwest.
e. They developed fewer arts and crafts skills than most cultures of the Southwest.
8. Which of the following characterized Indians in the Pacific Northwest?
a. They were dedicated farmers.
b. They were very similar to the Mississippian peoples.
c. They lived in peace with each other.
d. They were divided into chiefs, commoners, and slaves.
e. They did not know how to fish.
9. Which of the following was Cahokia?
a. A small fishing village of a few hundred people
b. A well-developed trade center near present-day St. Louis
c. A military stronghold
d. A town destroyed by Europeans
e. A city founded by the Adena-Hopewell culture
10. Which of the following statements describes the Eastern Woodlands people as a group?
a. They lived in the forests of landlocked areas rather than along the coast.
b. They were characterized by all speaking Iroquoian.
c. They built “dugouts” to travel the rivers and lakes.
d. They largely lived in caves built in the side of hills.
e. They included strictly patriarchal societies.
11. Which of the following was a result of the European revival in trade after the Middle Ages?
a. A rise in the number of serfs working for local nobles
b. A depletion in resources along Europe’s coastlines
c. An increase in the power of the nobility
d. The formation of nation-states
e. The rise of Roman Catholicism as a unifying force across Europe
12. What was the Renaissance of fourteenth- to fifteenth-century Europe?
a. An era in which intellectual curiosity and scientific investigation were discouraged
b. A general return to a more religious, rather than secular, worldview
c. An era in which Europeans powers turned inward and protected their borders
d. The splitting of the dominant Catholic Church into Protestant denominations
e. An intellectual revival in which new ideas about politics, religion, and science were
unleashed
13. One of Christopher Columbus’ first concerns when meeting Native peoples in the
Caribbean was
a. their spiritual welfare.
b. whether or not they had gold.
c. their scientific knowledge.
d. their style of leadership.
e. their physical safety.
14. Which of the following was a significant result of the voyages of Christopher Columbus and
Amerigo Vespucci?
a. They stimulated further interest in continued exploration of the Western Hemisphere.
b. They proved the world was round.
c. They were able to convert large numbers of Native Americans to Christianity.
d. North America evolved from a “monocultural” region to a “multicultural” one.
e. They introduced farming to North America.
15. The dominant religion in Europe in the fifteenth century was
a. Lutheranism.
b. Methodism.
c. Calvinism.
d. Catholicism.
e. Anglicanism.
16. Which of the following correctly describes the outbreak of the Protestant Reformation in
1517?
a. It increased tension between Europe’s nation-states and accelerated the pace of
exploration.
b. It had no impact on the course of early American history.
c. It led to religious unity throughout Europe.
d. It spread slowly across Europe.
e. It ended Catholicism in Spain.
17. Which of the following is Martin Luther known for criticizing in his ninety-five “theses”?
a. The Church’s emphasis on “personal thinking” over the authority of priests and bishops
b. The exploitation of Africans and Native Americans
c. The corruption of the Calvinist church
d. The emphasis the Church placed on reading the Bible
e. The buying and selling of indulgences
18. Which of the following statements describes the impact of John Calvin’s work?
a. Unlike Lutheranism, Calvinism was found only in France and Germany.
b. Calvin called for the execution of many people and ruled like a tyrant.
c. When the pope expelled Calvin from the Catholic church, it led to a civil war.
d. Calvin’s doctrine was lax, allowing people to rely on themselves in determining right
from wrong.
e. Calvin’s teachings were more attractive to nobles than to the middle class.
19. What led to the rejection of papal authority in England in the sixteenth century, resulting in
a Protestant nation?